This is sure to get some people fired up but what the heck! In my previous thread regarding a possible purchase of a 1911 I was looking at some Kimbers, Colts and the like but it's a hard pill for me to swallow to dump almost $800-1000 in one pistol. I know, I know, you get what you pay for and I agree. Let's take a look at some budget 1911's and get some thoughts there. Does anyone here have a Taurus? Rock Island?
One that I stumbled on was a Legacy Cidadel, anyone know about them? I'm still shopping around, just wanted to get some thoughts on this and see what other people make have found or experienced.

__________________
If the pain is lacking so is the discipline...

"the only 911 call I need is chambering a round" - Mr. Muller, MO car dealer

I've had a couple Taurii 1911s as well as a handful of Rock Islands (including a High Standard & Charles Daly). All were OK guns but nothing extra special about any of them. I can tell you that Rock Island had great customer service should you need it though.

If you get one for a good price, it's a good way to get the feel for the platform and you can probably sell it for what you paid. I do not recommend putting lots of $$$ in these as you will not get a return on the investment. A Rock Island Tactical is probably the best value out there in budget 1911s.

The Taurii I had were good shooters but I wasn't enamored with them enough not to trade them away...

I heard that the Taurus 1911 is the best bang for the buck for a 1911...
the only complaint about it is the henie straight 8 sights but now they are shipped with novak 3 dots as far I know...
In here we don't have those wonderful guns... but I want one for sure.

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I like the PT1911 and I do feel it's one of, if not THE, best bang for the buck 1911's right now.

Taurus has a lot of haters - and a lot of that comes from word of mouth and some crappy products they put out in the 90's.

about 5 years ago or so, they went through and completely redid all their tooling with brand new CNC driven machines and got into the 1911 world. I have handled about 8 of them and shot 3 of them and they are a good, solid gun that does what it's supposed to do.

I believe that stalkingbear has that exact model and the only thing he had a problem with was the front sight, if memory serves, but he did end up recommending the gun as a solid purchase.

The problem with "budgt guns" especially in the 1911 category is the use of MIM parts. Now, they function fine for years, but for me, I don't want any MIM parts in my gun. I want steel and I want real metal in that steel, not melted down car bumpers and soda cans.

That said, you can get a Rock Island, and for a couple of hundred bucks, over the course of a year, get out the MIM parts and put in quality parts and build a very reliable gun.

Bottom line, if the frame, slide and barrel are good quality, the rest of the gun can be tuned as $$ allows.....

Like this Spitfire? My boys gave me this one for my 60th. I have never had a FTF of any kind. It keeps shooting tighter groups the more I fire it. 700+ rounds so far. I cannot fault the gun for the money in any way.

Those Taurus 1911s work pretty well. They are very popular in Argentina, mainly because of the price (around $800 here...). The only other two options in new 1911s are Sigs and ParaOrdnance (the cheapest Para costs twice as much as the Taurus).

The PT1911 has been selling very well, I know half a dozen people that own them and are quite happy. Nobody had any issues, and they are happy about all the extras included. The only complaint I heard is that the dovetails for the sights aren't compatible with some aftermarket sights.

Don't get me wrong, the Taurus 1911 is an OK gun. Two things irk me about them though: first customer service is sh1t if you need it and second the ad campaign saying you get a $2100 gun for $600 was very misleading.

The RIA Tactical is "truer" to the 1911-A1 specs and costs less with stellar customer service. I picked up both my Taurii for about $400, and at this price (not much more though) I'd buy one again...

I bought a PT1911 to use as a template for grips for them (they are wider front to back) and ended up shooting it a few times. It's a very accurate weapon, and I have had zero trouble with it at all. I honestly can't say anything bad about it other than it feels and looks lower end than many other weapons I've had. Seams on some of the parts, finish not matching to a tee on parts, just little things like that. Functionally, it's been just great though.
Good luck!
Sarge

I had a RI 1911a1 a while ago and it was ok except the extractor was to stiff and would not let the round ride up into place so I replaced it with a colt commander one and it worked fine. Also take a look at the Metro Arms American Classic its running around $390ish new

I have the Taurus matte PT1911 & while I was pretty pissed off that it shot a little low to start with, it has definitely grown on me. To date I've put over 3,500 rounds through it WITHOUT ONE SINGLE MALFUNCTION OF ANY KIND. It will even feed an empty case straight from the mag! That's my "acid test" for feeding reliability. I have changed some things on it & hand fitted it for more accuracy. It WILL need a good trigger job out of box. Mine released at a creepy 7# as it came from Taurus. As it stands, IMO Taurus is THE bargain in 1911s.